The Key Benefits of Using MLS
If you're searching for a home in Northern Virginia, an MLS or Multiple Listing Service is crucial for discovering and marketing properties to real estate agents and possible buyers. Here are the benefits of MLS.
Are you looking to sell your home in Fairfax, Prince William, or Fauquier County? Northern Virginia properties are currently on the rise and it is important that you know how to maximize the potential of your home online. By now, you've probably spent some time in the Internet searching for homes for sale in the area. You may have even used a broker's website or a site like Trulia or Zillow to help you browse listings. But the question stands ~ where does listing information come from?
How It Worked in the Past
Back in the day, brokers used to gather and exchange information about their properties. The idea was pretty straightforward: I'll help you sell your properties if you help me sell mine. It's a "private offer of cooperation and compensation." Cooperation meant the real estate industry could thrive and buyers and sellers could enjoy smoother transactions. Brokers used to have binders with property listings printed in each.
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A Digital Cooperation
This spirit of cooperation gave rise to Multiple Listing Service/s or MLS. By consolidating information about housing inventory in an MLS, listing brokers and buyers' brokers can easily share up-to-date information about homes on the market. Though an MLS is typically a private database available only to brokers, much of the information is syndicated to outside sites in the interest of casting wider net for buyers and sellers.
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The Current Main Source of Information
As the MLS is the primary source of information about a property, it tends to be the most accurate. It may also contain private information for use by brokers only, such as times the home is available for showings and seller contact information.
Northern Virginia Homes for Sale MLS Search
There are more than 850 MLS databases in the U.S. alone, and to a certain extent, there is a market pressure to centralize these into a national MLS database. It remains to see changes in how Multiple Listing Services are used in the future, but the core benefits to home sellers and buyers will definitely remain.
Ready to put the power of an MLS to work for you and your Northern Virginia home? Connect with me today and I can help you give your property that “X-Factor” that it deserves.